ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: As Pakistan is about to have its new Army Chief in next couple of days, the government is seriously pondering over joining the Saudi Arabia-led 34 Muslim countries military alliance against terrorism.
Sources said that the decision of formally joining the Saudi Arabia-led military alliance has been taken by the top leadership principally but the announcement in this regard shall be made after consultation with the new Army Chief, who will replace General Raheel Sharif after completion of his three-year tenure on November 29.
In December last year, the Saudi government announced that a 34 Muslim nations including Pakistan had agreed to form an “Islamic military coalition” to fight terrorism.
Briefing the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee at the Parliament House in Islamabad on January 13, 2016, the Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that Pakistan welcomed the formation of anti-terrorism alliance but it would not send ground troops to Saudi Arabia or any other country; rather, Pakistan would be sharing intelligence with Saudi Arabia to counter terrorism.
Sources maintain that Pakistani civilian leadership wished to join the Saudi-led alliance but the decision was postponed over the advice of military leadership that suggested the civilian government to join the alliance voluntarily instead of sending forces abroad for military purposes.
Sources say that the issue would be discussed with the military leadership again and the government circles are confident that they would get approval for formally joining this alliance after consultation with forthcoming military leadership that would be installed in the country by first week of December 2016.
